信言不美，美言不信。
True words are not pleasant. Pleasant words are not true.
善者不辩，辩者不善。
The good do not argue. Those who argue are not good.
知者不博，博者不知。
Those who know are not widely read. The widely read do not know.
圣人不积，既以为人己愈有，既以与人己愈多。
The sage does not store things up.
The more he does for others, the more he has.
The more he gives away, the more he has.
天之道，利而不害；圣人之道，为而不争。
The way of heaven benefits and does not harm.
The way of the sage acts and does not contend.
Reading it
The book ends by closing its own mouth. Three couplets, each disqualifying a kind of speech — ornament, argument, display — and then the strangest claim in the book: giving away increases the store. Whatever else this is, it is an empirical claim about attention and trust, and it can be tested in a week. The last line is the whole book in six words.
Say the true thing without softening it. Once. To one person.